Rooster Crows - Iowa VIA de CRISTO

The
December 2013, Volume 41, Issue 1
Rooster Crows
From the Lay Director
G
reetings! The Secretariat is very excited about what God has in store for Via De
Cristo 2014. If you didn’t know the Secretariat is a board that has the task of
putting on and overseeing Via De Cristo weekends. Some of the responsibilities of
this volunteer group are to oversee the weekends, select and support rectors, oversee the
budget, maintain a database of all the 4th day members, produce
and distribute the Rooster Crows, maintain the website, and
pray for the movement. The Secretariat is open to anyone who
has been through a Via de Cristo weekend and has a passion
for seeing the movement continue, evolve, and grow. It is not
a special invitation board, and we are always seeking new
representatives.
At the last Secretariat meeting, terms of service for the Lay
Director were discussed. It was decided that we would have
a Lay Director and an Assistant Director and it would be a 4
year commitment...two as Assistant Director and two as lay
director. The motion also said one should be a woman and one
a man (so we could speak for and represent both weekends
well) and that one of the two should be a member of a Lutheran
Church. Therefore, I will be the Lay Director through the 2015
weekends. Following the 2015 weekends Jeff Buchan, the current Assistant Lay Director
will take over as lay director and a new Assistant Lay Director will be voted in.
This year’s rectors are Brad Simington and Jody Vulk, whom you will hear from in
this edition of the Rooster Crows. They have been working hard to assemble their teams,
organize practice talks, and get everyone ready for the weekends. Please be praying for
our rectors and teams!
As always the weekends can not happen without all of you, so please be prayerfully
considering who you will ask, and then ask with confidence! It is never too early to start
asking. Don’t be afraid to ask someone who has said no in the past, sometimes it takes
several years of “asks” for the timing to be right to get a “YES”! It would be great to have
some applications in before Christmas!!!
Finally, we have a new website! It is a work in progress at this point, but it is up and
running and will serve the purpose of retrieving the application and checking who is
registered as pilgrims. We plan to continue to add pictures and content in the near future.
Website: www.iowavdc.com
Looking forward to seeing you all in January!
Blessings, Laurie Simington
Lay Director, Iowa Lutheran Secretariat
New Iowa VdC Website
T
he new Via de Cristo website is up
and running! You can find it at www.
iowavdc.com. The new site gives the
secretariat better access to get things posted
and/or changed. The pilgrim application
for January 2014 is now available on the
site and may be filled out on screen and
then printed or saved and then emailed
in. The website is a work in progress and
information will be added or changed as
needed. We do want to keep it current and
easy to maintain. If anyone has suggestions,
please feel free to contact Laurie Simington
at [email protected] or Dean Mechler at
[email protected].
Inside
The Rooster Crows
Make a friend, be a friend, and ask that friend
to sign up for a life-changing weekend at the
Okoboji Lutheran Bible Camp in January,
Page 2 - Rectors’ Messages
Page 2 - Treasurer’s Notes
Page 3 - Did You Know?
Page 3 - Palanca
Page 3 - ILS Weekends
Page 4 - Okoboji 2014 Teams
Page 4 - Contact Information
2
Men’s Rector
D
e Colores! If you were in as much
denial as I was on the 1st of October,
having enjoyed August-like 80
degree weather, you were thinking to
yourself, “There is no way possible that
cooler temperatures are possibly only a few
days or weeks away; that we will be sitting
around a table with family giving thanks for
our many blessings only 8 weeks away; that
we will be singing Silent Night on Christmas
Eve a short 12 weeks from now and that
Via de Cristo is 14 short weeks away.” I
am very excited to serve this year as the
Men’s Rector. We have been in process of
finalizing our team for this year’s Via de
Cristo. Please start praying and preparing
to ask both family and friends to attend.
As we challenge the pilgrims each year,
“Christ is Counting on You,” please also
consider serving as Palanca. Nothing can
match the feeling of God’s overwhelming
Grace as when we were going through the
weekend as a Pilgrim; however, each year
when serving as Palanca, God continues to
reveal Himself through His people and His
Word, through worship and study.
I am currently involved in a small
group study called, “Emotionally Healthy
Spirituality” by Peter Scazzero. In it
he writes “An awareness of yourself is
intricately related to your relationship with
God. In fact, the challenge to shed our “old
false” self in order to live authentically in
our “new true” self strikes at the very core
of true spirituality.” In AD 500, Augustine
wrote in Confessions, “How can you
draw close to God when you are far from
your own self?” He prayed, “Grant, Lord,
that I may know myself that I may know
thee.” As I pondered these thoughts, it
became clear to me that this is very much
what transpires throughout a Via de Cristo
Weekend. The discovering and shedding of
our old self and accepting of God’s calling
for our true self. The Via de Cristo Mission
states: By grace, with the Holy Spirit, we
challenge leaders to discover and achieve
their personal calling, assisting them to
influence their environments with the
Gospel.
Please start praying for those who will
be attending the weekend as pilgrims. Go
through a list of people in your church
that you would like to ask, give them the
dates and share about the weekend with
them. Give them time to plan and prepare
themselves to go. Also consider serving
as Palanca. There will be Bible Studies,
worship time and sharing through Holy
Communion in addition to the task at hand
of serving the Pilgrims. I was challenged
with a question in the study I mentioned
above, “How could you make more room
in your life for silence in order to listen
to God?” I think a great response to that
question would be to spend the 2nd weekend
in January doing just that. De Colores.
—Brad Simington
The Rooster Crows
Women’s Rector
D
e Colores, Brothers and Sisters!
This year has been a whirlwind! I
feel like we just left camp, and it is
time to get ready to go back again! How
wonderful, nerve racking, frustrating and a
joyous time all wrapped up into one!
I will be serving as the Women’s Rector
this year. Ten years ago, as I went through
as a pilgrim, I remember thinking, “those
leaders are amazing women of God, with
perfect lives through Christ.” Now, as I
look at this list of past rectors, I still see
amazing women, but know them as women
who have struggled, suffered, and yet still
persevered to continue to do His work and
honor their God by serving, in spite of their
imperfect lives.
Service is my underlying theme for
the team. It is my emphasis for those of
us coming to the weekend to come with a
servant’s heart. I pray that we are able to
lay down our burdens early in the weekend
so that we can be used by Him to serve
others and worship Him.
The theme to the pilgrims: to love
others. After all, it is our greatest
commandment! The verse that has been
chosen for the weekend, Matthew 6:33,
oddly does not mention love. However, this
is how God explains it to me in Matthew
6:33 “Seek first the kingdom of God and
His righteousness, and the rest will be
given to you.”
Simple enough. I go through the dayto-day and stumble, so I ask God, “What
should I do?”
His Resounding, unfailing response to
me this year has been, “Love.” It is such an
easy command, but such a powerful four
letter word! It is such a hard thing to know
how to do. Now I am a preschooler in the
school of love, so don’t ask me how to do
it, but I have faith that with His guidance,
He will teach me to be the love others need.
So, my prayer for the weekend is that the
pilgrims leave with a sense of where to turn,
and how easy it can be if we let God do the
work. Seek him, and love others. Please
pray that His mission is accomplished.
—Jody Vulk
Treasurer’s Notes
D
elight daily in your love, work, and
service for the Lord. The Holy
Spirit is aware of the journey God is
preparing for us. A Christian walk of faith
is not for someone else to do—it is our
responsibility, therefore
be available!!! Christ
will guide us to the
pilgrims that possibly
and probably don’t
know why they are
signing the Via de Cristo
weekend application.
I’m confident that
the conference room
and palanca chapel will be at capacity in
January 2014. As I’m sure you are aware,
the financial needs to meet all expenses
increase yearly. When all the Via de Cristo
4th Day Community contributes spiritually
as well as financially, the weekends will
continue to flourish. I’m praying that
Christ is on the front seat of your tandem
bicycle of life—you need to peddle as you
travel throughout your journey, but Christ
will guide—tailwinds!!! (Only a cyclist
knows the true meaning of a headwind
and tailwind. My best explanation is living
with Christ or existing without Christ.) De
Colores,
—Bonnie Sleezer
Want to Donate?
I
f you wish to make a donation to the
Iowa Lutheran Secretariat for Via de
Cristo, please make checks payable
to Iowa Lutheran Secretariat and mail to:
Bonnie Sleezer, Treasurer, 110 490th Street,
Aurelia, IA 51005.
The Rooster Crows
Volume 41.1
December 2013
The official newsletter of the Iowa Lutheran Secretariat for Via de Cristo, affiliated with the National
Lutheran Secretariat for Via de Cristo.
Published to bring news of the weekends, secretariat meetings and business of the ILS.
If you would like to receive this newsletter via
email, just send your name and email address to:
Carroll Lang, Editor
19903 225th Street
Fort Dodge, IA 50501
515-576-6810(H)
515-571-6566(C)
[email protected]
Also available for download at:
http://php.teamem.com/ils/newsletter.php
Iowa Lutheran Secretariat
Palanca
W
rite a note to the events below to let the pilgrims know
you are praying and sacrificing to “lever” their weekend.
ILS Weekends
Iowa Lutheran VdC at Okoboji Lutheran Bible
Camp, Men’s: January 9-12, Women’s: January 16-19, 2014. Send Palanca to: Steve &
Theone Quattlebaum, 228 8th St SW, Spencer, IA 51301. [email protected]
Brothers in Blue at NCCF Rockwell City, March
6-9, 2014. Send palanca messages to Carroll Lang, 19903 225th Street, Fort Dodge,
IA 50501. [email protected]
Brothers in Blue at MPCF Mount Pleasant, March
20-23, 2014. Send palanca messages to Bob
Smythe, 1700 Maple Drive NW, Cedar
Rapids, IA 52405. [email protected]
Brothers in Blue at MPCF Mount Pleasant, September 11-14, 2014. Send palanca messages
to Bob Smythe, 1700 Maple Drive NW, Cedar Rapids, IA 52405. smythebob@msn.
com
Iowa Lutheran VdC at Okoboji Lutheran Bible
Camp, Men’s: January 8-11, Women’s: January 15-18, 2015. Send Palanca to: Steve &
Theone Quattlebaum, 228 8th St SW, Spencer, IA 51301. [email protected]
Brothers in Blue at NCCF Rockwell City, October
2-5, 2014. Send palanca messages to Carroll Lang, 19903 225th Street, Fort Dodge,
IA 50501. [email protected]
3
Did You Know?
Registering Pilgrims is a simple process:
1) Print the application off from the NEW website: http://www.iowavdc.com/
2) Fill out both pages of the application with/ for the pilgrim.
3) If you can enclose a deposit of $10.
4) Send or fax the application to Crystal Quanbeck: 2404 Lakeside Ave. Milford, Iowa
51351 or email: [email protected] or Fax: 712-337-3501.
Sponsor Responsibilities: Before the weekend:
1. Complete and send application.
2. Advise your pilgrim on what to bring for the weekend: Pillow; bedding (sleeping
bag or sheets and a blanket); towels; toiletries; Bible; comfy clothes etc.
3. Transport (or arrange transportation) for your pilgrim to the camp on Thursday
night at 7:00 pm.
During the weekend:
1. Send or take Palanca to your pilgrim to the palanca chapel. This should include any
mail from women pilgrims’ husbands.
2. Pray for your pilgrim and the weekend.
3. If the Pilgrim’s family needs assistance in their absence, make yourself available.
4. Attend the closing! We cannot stress how important this is!
Following the weekend:
1. Check in with your pilgrim, meet for coffee and encourage them to share what it
meant to them and how God revealed himself to them.
2. Help the pilgrim find a small group or invite them to one you attend! Helping
connect them to a Christian community is KEY!! Please take this seriously.
3. Attend the Ultreya in March with your pilgrim.
I am working Palanca: what should I bring?
1. Pillow, bedding, towels (extras for those who forget); toiletries; comfy clothes.
2. White top and black skirt or pants.
3. Two dozen snacks for the Conference Room and Palanca Chapel.
4. A mug with your name on it.
5. Bible, pens, journal – we will have bible study time this year.
6. A willing and joyful heart to serve!
J.O.G. (Joy of Giving) Offering
$100 for Pilgrim, team members and Palanca.
$25 per day if you will not be there all weekend.
Set Up Crew
We are in need of men and women to help set up the camp on Sunday January 5th at
1:30. Just come to the camp if you can help.
Y
Palanca Letters
our letters written to participants on
a weekend are a lot like giving them
a holy hug. Many are kept and cherished for years after the weekend.
The Rooster Crows
19903 225th Street
Fort Dodge, IA 50501
Non-Profit Org.
U.S.Postage
PAID
Fort Dodge,
Iowa
Permit #4
CHANGE SERVICE REQUESTED
December 2013
January 9-12, 2014 Men’s Team
January 16-19, 2014 Women’s Team
Rector
Brad Simington
1st Asst Rector
Kurt Weeks
2nd Asst Rector
Todd Nicholson
Past Rector
Dean Mechler
Palanca Rector
Tom James
Asst Palanca Rector Jeff Buchan
Spiritual Director
Pastor Lee Laaveg
Asst Sp Director
Pastor Jim Steen
Kitchen Rectors
Jeff Anderson/Butch Sleezer
Music Rector
Dave Bennett
Conf Room Tech
Dean Mechler
Ideal
Lonnie Cummins
Grace?
Laity
Jim Carpenter
Grace, Too
?
Piety
Ryan Waltner
Study
Joe Simington
Means of Grace
?
Apostolic Action
Tom Kellen
Obstacles to Grace
?
Leaders
Dave Jensen
Environment
Doug Schwartz
Life in Grace
?
Christian Community Steve Quattlebaum
Perseverance/4th Day Brad Simington
Auxiliary
Marcus Brock
Auxiliary
Tim Christianson
Auxiliary
Nate Meyer
Pastors
Pastor Craig Nissen
Pastor Dan Taylor
Pastor Bob Vaage
Pastor Tom Can Tassel
Spiritual Director
Asst Sp Director
Asst Sp Director
Asst Sp Director
Rector
Assistant Rector
Assistant Rector
Assistant Rector
Ideal Rollista
Grace Rollista
Laity Rollista
Grace in Action
Piety
Study
Means of Grace
Action
Obstacles to Grace
Leaders
Environment
Life in Grace
Christian Comm
Perseverance/4th Day
Pastor Chris Lang
Pastor Wendy VanTassel
Pastor Jane Johnston
Pastor Deb Mechler
Jody Vulk
Cheryl Todd
Lisa Carpenter
Kim Weeks
Christy Year
?
Laura Carlentini
?
Marcia Cheevers
Allison Antoine
?
Crystal Quanbeck
?
Karen Brandt
Kim McKenney
Jody Vulk
Courtney Schwartz
Jody Vulk
Palanca Rector
Asst Palanca Rector
Laurie Simington
Kathy Sindt
Theme Verse: Colossians 3:23-24
Secretariat Contact Information
Name
Laurie Simington
Pastor Jane Johnston
Carroll & Judy Lang
Steve & Theone Quattlebaum
Bonnie Sleezer
Jolene Manzey
Sheryl Kleppe
PositionEmail
Lay Director
Spiritual Director
Brothers in Blue
Secretary, Past LD
Treasurer
Past Lay Director
Past Secretary
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]
[email protected]